Category: Healthy Living

Back to school also means back to germs! Most parents focus on clothes and supplies when preparing for back to school, but what about natural back to school essentials? For my kids I make it a priority to support their body systems weeks before they had back to school. This post will share with you my natural tips and tricks for natural back to school essentials to keep your kids healthy and happy and above the wellness line!

Natural Back to School Essentials

When it comes to getting my kids school ready It’s more than just new clothes and school supplies. For my family we focus on emotional and physical support as well. Of course I am all about natural methods and modalities to help out bodies to function properly. Here are some of the ways that we promote health and wellness with some of our natural back to school essentials.

Nutritional Support

We are what we eat, and what our kids eat is going to either help them or hurt them both mentally and physically. During Summer I am a little more relaxed on our eating and sleeping habits, but tend to reign it in and really focus on nutritional support because I know it’s so important for our body to function properly on all levels. Nutrition is so important for our bodies to function properly. Unfortunately due to minerals being depleted in the soil due to a high crop turnover means that we need to eat even more fruits and vegetables in order to get the essential vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need to achieve optimal wellness. Many parents would agree that getting kids to eat a full required amount of fruits and vegetables each day (2 servings of fruit, 3 servings of veggies) can be difficult. Supplementing with whole food nutritional capsules and/or gelatin chewables are a great way to make sure your little ones are getting the nutrition they need. They are great for adults too. You can learn more about the whole food supplements my family uses you can find out more here.

Back to School Jitters

Regardless of what grade your child is starting, first day jitters can be a problem. For many kids it could be separating from their parents for the first time, for others it’s the fear of being the new kid on campus or moving into a higher grade brings the fear of the unknown. Luckily there are some natural ways that you can help to emotionally support your kid no matter how old they are! Therapeutic grade essential oils are a great way to manage first day jitters and manage other stresses and emotions associated with going back to school. Click here to learn more about the essential oils I use for my family and why.

Healthy Hair Spray

No parent ever wants to get the dreaded letter! You know the one letting you know your child has been exposed to head lice. Here is a recipe for some healthy hair spray to help deter those pesky bugs. The quality of the essential oils will make a difference in the potency of this treatment. Commercial grade from health food stores will not have as effective results as a higher grade essential oils Here is the brand I recommend and use for my family.

Improve Concentration & Focus

Whether it’s during class or homework time it can sometimes be hard for kids to focus and concentrate at the task on hand. As a homeschooling mom I know first hand how hard it can be to get my kids to sit down without being distracted. I feel for your teachers who have 20+ kids in a class! My husband is an elementary school teacher and tells me all about his challenges throughout the day. I feel blessed to have a natural solution that has helped both me and my husband get through out day. I sent him to school with a diffuser and I have one next to our homeschool area where I can make my house smell good without resorting to harmful chemicals, while also helping to boost my kids focus and concentration. As I mentioned before, not all essential oils are created equal. I have used many brands over the years with different results. The brand that has been the most consistent in achieving the most success in helping us live happy and healthy can be found here.

Sugaring and waxing are both popular hair removal procedures. But you may be wondering which is the best option? This post will share with you the differences between the two methods as well as the benefits of sugaring vs. waxing for hair removal.

The Benefits of Sugaring vs. Waxing

What is Sugaring?

Sugaring paste is applied at body temperature & will not burn your skin.
Hot wax must be heated to a high degree in order to become liquified. The heat causes swelling in the tissues which makes hair difficult to remove. Using this amount of heat has the potential to cause burning & scarring.

Sugar paste can be cleaned up easily with water. You will never leave a Sugaring treatment feeling sticky.Since wax contains resins, chemical solvents are required to remove it’s residues.

Sugar cannot adhere to live skin cells. Live skin cells are wet & because Sugar Paste is water soluble, it will not adhere to live skin cells. This means less discomfort for you & less trauma to your skin. Sugaring does remove dead skin cells – so as the hair is removed your skin is also getting exfoliated! It is gentle enough to go over the same area several times to extract stubborn hairs without causing skin damage or irritation. No tweezers needed.
Wax has been known to remove more than just the hair, since it can adhere directly to live skin cells, which makes waxing more painful & irritating. Wax cannot be applied to an area more than twice at the most. Tweezers are commonly used to get the leftover hairs the wax missed.

A single glob of Sugar Paste can be used over & over on different parts of your body then discarded after your treatment. It is never used on any other person. When using a hot wax pot, the practitioner must use a clean & unused stick each time to dip into the wax for each strip applied. This creates more waste and more chance for contamination.

Sugaring Paste is hypoallergenic & non-comedogenic. Sugar naturally helps control cross contamination & bacteria cannot breed in the tub of sugar. Cross contamination in a waxing room is always a danger, especially since bacteria will breed inside a tub of wax.

Using the Sugaring Technique the paste wraps around the hair making it pliable, while seeping into the hair follicle lubricating the hair to make the extraction more complete & gentle. The hair is removed out of the follicle only in the natural direction of growth, which helps to extract the hair intact.

Pros and Cons of Sugaring

Pros:

Helps reduce the risk of ingrown hairs.

Gently exfoliates while improving the appearance of skin tone and texture.

Suitable for all skin types, including sensitive.

Sugar paste is all-natural and hypoallergenic.

Results last up to 6 weeks and if performed regularly, can lead to permanency.

Hair only needs to be 1/8th inch long to be sugared.

You can eat it!

The mixture is water-soluble, so it washes off with water if any residue is left behind.

Sugaring is eco-friendly and cost efficient. It requires no strips, popsicles sticks for applying or any other waste that is necessary for conventional waxing procedures.

Cons:

Time consuming to hand make the sugar solution (there are several sugaring companies that distribute an already-made product to licensed beauty practitioners for more convenience)

If technique is performed poorly, hair breakage and irritation to the skin is possible
Can be messy or complicated for the sugarer if you are accustomed to strip or hard wax techniques

The Benefits of Sugaring vs. Waxing

Sugaring and waxing are very different. As we said earlier, the sugaring paste is applied in the opposite direction of the hair growth and removed with it, whereas waxing is applied with the direction of the hair and removed against it. Traditional waxing uses either muslin strips or hardens on the skin before removing it.

Wax removal can often be harsh and result in hair breakage. When the hair breaks under the skin’s surface, the hair that grows in thereafter gets trapped, causing an ingrown. We all know how incredibly painful ingrown hairs can be, not to mention difficult to extract and heal, especially in the bikini area—ouch!

Another major difference between body sugaring and waxing is that the sugar only adheres to the hair follicle and never to live skin cells. Commonly used wax substances, because they contain resins, stick to live skin cells, causing not only pain with removal, but can lift the live skin! This results in a burn, usually scabbing over—definitely not a pretty result! The sugar paste on the other hand, never adheres to live skin, but only to dead skin cells. The mixture permeates deep into the hair follicle, effectively removing the hair and the inner root sheath (the white, waxy bulb you find at the end of your hair shaft). This removal is also a gentle, yet effective exfoliating treatment that leaves your skin silky, sweet and smooth after the process. This makes sugaring our most preferred method, because it is excellent for sensitive skin types.

One of the most common problems waxers face is early regrowth due to broken hairs. Waxing can leave 15% – 30% breakage behind. This problem is usually caused not by the esthetician, but by the wax used. Since wax hardens on the hair, it has the tendency to break it off at the surface, rather than pull it out.

The Sugaring Technique requires only about 1/16 inch of hair for successful extraction, about the size of a grain of rice (1/8 inch tends to be optimal). Wax products require that you grow the hair out at least 1/4 inch before your next waxing appointment.

After a number of Sugaring treatments the hair follicle begins to deplete. The hair grows in more refined each time. Because Sugar can extract such short hair, it is possible to extract the hair in the early growth phase, which can lead to permanency. You will see superior results in just a few treatments.

My Experience

I have been sugaring for quite awhile and I just have to say that I love it and notice that it’s way less harsh on my skin than waxing was. I have never tried to make my own sugar or tried to do it myself. I am a big DIY girl, but when it comes to this, I would rather just save my sanity and indulge in a professional. To me, it’s way more worth it. If you are in the San Diego area and interested in trying Sugaring you have to checkout my cousin Janee at Love Sugaring San Diego. She is so awesome at what she does and in my opinion she is the BEST! Book an appointment with her and tell her Yogi Mami sent you!

Did you know that the moon phases affect us emotionally, mentally and physically? From tides to different moods, the moon is believed to cause a number of things. This post will share with you how the moon phases affect the woman’s body.

How the Moon Phases Affect the Woman’s Body

Moon Phases and Menstrual Cycles

While most assumptions on how the lunar cycle affects menstruation are speculation, there have been several studies performed to try to find a correlation between the two.

In the 1980s, Winnifred B. Cutler published a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology that studied 312 university women who were menstruating. The study found that 40 percent of participants had the onset of menstruation within two weeks of the full moon, which means they were ovulating during the “dark phase,” or second half of the moon cycle also known as the new moon, when the moon isn’t visible from earth. The study showed that 69 women had a menstrual cycle of about 29.5 days, the same length as the lunar cycle. Dr. Christian Northrup, an OB/GYN, says the phrase “moon time” was used for ages as a euphemism for menstruation, and when women lived together in clans, their menstrual cycles lined up with each other and the moon cycles.

Women have been looking to the sky for cues about their fertility for hundreds of thousands of years, and it’s even believed that the first calendars were created as a result of charting ovulation and menstruation. Since the lunar cycle lasts 29.8 days, it made sense that it would align almost perfectly with women’s menstrual cycles. By tracking your period and your body’s changes throughout the month, you’ll gain a better idea of when to expect your period, and have a clearer understanding of your body’s unique rhythms. It’s simple, just jot down your cycle—when you’re bleeding, when you experience PMS or PMDD symptoms, and then again about 14 days later when you are ovulating—in a good old fashioned journal, calendar, or agenda book. Many online calendars and agendas will already have icons for lunar phases, or you can checkout My Moontime, an excellent smartphone app for tracking your cycle and the moon.

After keeping track of your body’s cycles for a few months, you’ll know whether you tend to menstruate around the new moon—the beginning of the lunar cycle—or the full moon, which is the end of the month’s lunar cycle, or the waxing and waning periods in between. Some believe that periods should align with the new moon, since the dark-moon phase is so closely associated with rest and withdrawal for self-care. However, everyone is unique and there’s no “correct” moon phase to menstruate with.

According to Miranda Grey, author of Red Moon—Understanding and Using the Creative, Sexual and Spiritual Gifts of the Menstrual Cycle, there are two traditional menstruation patterns; “White Moon” bleeding, or menstruating with the new moon and ovulating with the full moon, and “Red Moon” menstruation, which is bleeding with the full moon and becoming fertile with the new moon. Your period will attune to both cycles over the course of your life, but to me it is so fascinating to note what’s going on in your life energetically as your body cycles.

White Moon: If your body follows a White Moon cycle, you’ll tend to bleed during the new or waning moon. Since biodynamics have shown that the earth is most fertile during full moons (when you ovulate), this cycle is most traditionally linked to fertility and motherhood. If you are a “White Moon” woman, you’ll likely feel a surge in your intuition during your period, and will feel the urge to withdraw for nourishment and self-renewal. In other words, you’re tapped out energetically and now it’s time for self-care and “you” time.

Red Moon: This cycle follows the full moon, meaning that your body bleeds during the waxing or full moon and is most fertile during the new or waning moon. Because full and waxing moon phase energies are outgoing, vibrant, and creative, some feel this is counterintuitive to menstruation. This is not the case,In ancient times, the Red Moon cycle was associated with shamanism, high priestesses, and healers. Women who tend to menstruate with the full moon are said to focus their “darker” and more creative menstrual energies outward, rather than inward, in order to nourish and teach others from their own experience. Many times, women with this cycle will be more focused on self-growth, development, mentorship, and creativity.

Moon Phases and Childbirth

The moon’s influence is what is known as the lunar effect. It has long been believed if a woman is full term around the time the moon is full, its gravitational pull can influence when she will go into labor. Just as the moon’s pull affects the waters on earth, it is believed to affect the amniotic fluid in a pregnant woman’s womb. If the amniotic sack is under pressure, it can rupture and contractions might begin. Many midwives, doulas and birth professionals will attest there is an increase in the number of births during the full moon. There are many stories about maternity wards overflowing with laboring women during the full moon phase, but so far there is no scientific evidence to support this phenomenon of the Full Moon causing childbirth. However, recent research found that cow births increase depending on the moon phase. While this doesn’t prove the same for humans the result findings should eventually lead to discoveries that can be generalized to human births.

My Experience

I have been tracking my cycle for the last couple years and have learned so much about myself. I know where I am in my cycle based on the moon phases. I have also learned how the different moon cycles affect me emotionally, mentally and physically. I think it both fascinating and insightful how our body responds to the natural rhythms and can teach us so much about ourselves.

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About Yogi Mami

Yogi Mami was created by a wife and mother who strives for natural living. Yogi Mami offers tips, advice and information for those who are seeking a more holistic lifestyle. Yogi Mami believes that better knowledge can help us live happier, healthier lives.﻿
www.yogimami.com
Victoria@yogimami.com
619-610-8302

DISCLOSURE: Please note these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. While I am certified in modalities such as Yoga, Aromatherapy, Reiki and Hypnotherapy, I am not a doctor or medical professional. I am simply a mother who is passionate about health and wellness and sharing my experiences and testimonials. In addition, I am a participant in the Amazon Affiliate advertisign program, an affilaite advertising program, an affiliate advertising program desinged ot provide a means to learn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliates sites.